San Juan County wins record grant for 13 miles of new trails

San Juan County landed a $700,000 grant to build about 13 miles of new trails near Alien Run and Angel Peak, a public investment aimed at linking Aztec and Bloomfield with beginner-friendly singletrack and a new regional riding corridor. The project would add the county’s first bike-optimized trails in Bloomfield and extend one of San Juan County’s best-known outdoor assets.

Alien Run already has more than 15 miles of looped mountain bike trails on Bureau of Land Management land north of Aztec. The existing system includes intermediate short and long loops and a more technical Outer Limits trail, giving the county a proven destination to expand rather than starting from scratch. Local trail materials also say the first competition race at Alien Run was held in March 2001, and Bike Magazine selected the area to represent New Mexico in a March 2008 guide to the 50 states.

The county moved the project into procurement last spring. San Juan County Central Purchasing issued a request for proposals on March 31, 2025 for trail design services tied to Alien Run and Angel Peak Scenic Area. A non-mandatory pre-proposal conference was held April 14, 2025, and bids closed April 24, 2025 at 5 p.m. The work was planned for Bureau of Land Management land, tying county spending to federal ground that has long been used for local recreation.

Public project listings described the expansion as roughly 12 miles of new non-motorized singletrack, plus a six-mile connector between the Mountain View Trail System in Aztec and Alien Run Recreation Area. That connector is the part that gives the project its strongest economic claim: not just more trails, but a direct line between existing riding areas that could keep cyclists in the county longer and spread spending to local businesses.

The promise is easier to state than to prove. Bloomfield has a population of 7,421, so the home market for trail use is limited; the county’s case depends on drawing riders from farther afield and turning trail traffic into restaurant, lodging and shop receipts. Bloomfield city information already points riders to nearby trail assets such as Aztec Mountain View Trail, Glade Run Recreation Area and Piñon Mesa Mountain Bike Trail, and the county’s latest trail grant follows a separate 2024 Outdoor Recreation Trail+ award to Bloomfield for Riverwalk improvements. Together, those projects show where local leaders are placing their bets: on recreation infrastructure as a land-use strategy, and on whether the public payoff will outweigh the maintenance costs that come after the buildout.